James Westman
Encyclopedia
James Westman is a Canadian baritone
known for his interpretation of the Verdi, Puccini and bel canto
operatic repertoire, and particularly his signature role of Germont in La traviata
, which he has sung in over 140 performances, with opera companies such as San Francisco Opera
, Pittsburgh Opera
, Florida Grand Opera
, Grazer Oper, Santa Fe Opera
, Chicago Lyric Opera, Canadian Opera Company
, Boston Lyric Opera
, Opernhaus Koln, Vancouver Opera
, English National Opera
, San Diego Opera
, Dallas Opera
, and Opera Theatre of St. Louis. As a recital
ist, he has performed for the Marilyn Horne
Foundation, Aldeburgh Connection, Saito Kinen Festival in Japan, Stratford Summer Music and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
. Westman first came to attention at the age of twelve when he was the first boy soprano
to perform and record Mahler 4th Symphony
with Benjamin Zander
and the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra in 1984.James Westman is regularly featured as the Anthem singer for the Toronto Maple Leafs
and numerous other NHL franchises.
. He attended the University of Toronto
Opera Division where he received attaining a Masters degree in Operatic Performance, studying under Lois Marshall
and Patricia Kern
. He was a member of the Canadian Opera Company
ensemble studio, and studied at the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme in Aldeburgh
, and the Tanglewood Music Center
. He participated in San Francisco Opera's Merola Opera Program and was one of the company's Adler
Fellows.
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
known for his interpretation of the Verdi, Puccini and bel canto
Bel canto
Bel canto , along with a number of similar constructions , is an Italian opera term...
operatic repertoire, and particularly his signature role of Germont in La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
, which he has sung in over 140 performances, with opera companies such as San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
, Pittsburgh Opera
Pittsburgh Opera
Pittsburgh Opera is an American opera company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is one of two opera companies in the city, the other being Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh Opera gives performances in several venues, primarily at the Benedum Center, with other performances at the...
, Florida Grand Opera
Florida Grand Opera
Florida Grand Opera is an American opera company based in Miami, Florida. FGO was created in 1994 from the consolidation of two opera companies in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale region:...
, Grazer Oper, Santa Fe Opera
Santa Fe Opera
The Santa Fe Opera is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe in the U.S. state of New Mexico, headquartered on a former guest ranch of .-General history:...
, Chicago Lyric Opera, Canadian Opera Company
Canadian Opera Company
The Canadian Opera Company is an opera company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest opera company in Canada and the third largest producer of opera in North America. The COC performs in its own opera house, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.-History:For 40 years until...
, Boston Lyric Opera
Boston Lyric Opera
Boston Lyric Opera is an American opera company based in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1976.Each season, BLO produces three mainstage productions at the Citi Performing Arts Center Shubert Theatre in Boston and a fully staged, one-hour English language version of a popular opera for school...
, Opernhaus Koln, Vancouver Opera
Vancouver Opera
Vancouver Opera is the second largest performing arts organization in British Columbia and the largest opera company in western Canada.It performs in the Queen Elizabeth Theatre accompanied currently by the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, one of two specialized opera orchestras in Canada...
, English National Opera
English National Opera
English National Opera is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden...
, San Diego Opera
San Diego Opera
The San Diego Opera Association is a professional opera company located in the city of San Diego, California and is a member of OPERA America. It was founded in 1950 to present productions by San Francisco Opera in the San Diego area...
, Dallas Opera
Dallas Opera
The Dallas Opera is an opera company located in Dallas, Texas . The company was founded in 1957 as the Dallas Civic Opera by Laurence Kelly and Nicolà Rescigno, both of whom had been active with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the first as administrator, the second as artistic director.-The company's...
, and Opera Theatre of St. Louis. As a recital
Recital
A recital is a musical performance. It can highlight a single performer, sometimes accompanied by piano, or a performance of the works of a single composer.The invention of the solo piano recital has been attributed to Franz Liszt....
ist, he has performed for the Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring a large sound, beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages....
Foundation, Aldeburgh Connection, Saito Kinen Festival in Japan, Stratford Summer Music and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
. Westman first came to attention at the age of twelve when he was the first boy soprano
Boy soprano
A boy soprano is a young male singer with an unchanged voice in the soprano range. Although a treble, or choirboy, may also be considered to be a boy soprano, the more colloquial term boy soprano is generally only used for boys who sing, perform, or record as soloists, and who may not necessarily...
to perform and record Mahler 4th Symphony
Symphony No. 4 (Mahler)
The Symphony No. 4 by Gustav Mahler was written between 1899 and 1901, though it incorporates a song originally written in 1892. The song, "Das himmlische Leben", presents a child's vision of Heaven. It is sung by a soprano in the work's fourth and last movement...
with Benjamin Zander
Benjamin Zander
Benjamin Zander is an American conductor from the United Kingdom.-External links:* *-Interviews:* * * *...
and the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra in 1984.James Westman is regularly featured as the Anthem singer for the Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
and numerous other NHL franchises.
Education and early career
James Westman was raised on a farm near St. Mary's, Ontario, Canada. He studied with several early musical training institutions such as St. Marys Children's Choir, Vienna Boys Choir, Paris Boys Choir, and the American Boychoir SchoolAmerican Boychoir School
The American Boychoir School is a music boarding school located in Princeton, New Jersey. It is one of only two boychoir boarding schools in the United States, the other being Saint Thomas Choir School in New York City...
. He attended the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
Opera Division where he received attaining a Masters degree in Operatic Performance, studying under Lois Marshall
Lois Marshall
Lois Catherine Marshall, CC was a Canadian soprano.In 1967, she was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. She was a Graduate of the University of Toronto....
and Patricia Kern
Patricia Kern
Patricia Kern is a British mezzo-soprano and voice teacher. She was born in Swansea, Wales.From 1949 to 1952 she studied with Gwynn Parry Jones at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. She began her career with Opera for All...
. He was a member of the Canadian Opera Company
Canadian Opera Company
The Canadian Opera Company is an opera company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest opera company in Canada and the third largest producer of opera in North America. The COC performs in its own opera house, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.-History:For 40 years until...
ensemble studio, and studied at the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme in Aldeburgh
Aldeburgh Festival
The Aldeburgh Festival is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the Aldeburgh area of Suffolk, centred on the main concert hall at Snape Maltings...
, and the Tanglewood Music Center
Tanglewood Music Center
The Tanglewood Music Center is an annual summer music academy in Lenox, Massachusetts, United States, in which emerging professional musicians participate in performances, master classes and workshops designed to provide an intense training and networking experience...
. He participated in San Francisco Opera's Merola Opera Program and was one of the company's Adler
Kurt Herbert Adler
Kurt Herbert Adler was an Austrian-born American conductor and opera house director.Adler was born in Vienna, Austria to a Jewish family. His work in the field of music led him to become the assistant to Arturo Toscanini at the Salzburg Festival in 1936 and he also worked in Italy...
Fellows.
Recordings
- Britten: War RequiemWar RequiemThe War Requiem, Op. 66 is a large-scale, non-liturgical setting of the Requiem Mass composed by Benjamin Britten mostly in 1961 and completed January 1962. Interspersed with the traditional Latin texts, in telling juxtaposition, are settings of Wilfred Owen poems...
– Christine GoerkeChristine GoerkeChristine Goerke is a Grammy Award winning American dramatic soprano who has performed with many of the world's best opera companies, orchestras, and musical ensembles.-Early life and education:...
, Anthony Dean GriffeyAnthony Dean GriffeyAnthony Dean Griffey is an American operatic tenor. With his lyric tenor voice, Griffey has become a regular presence on the stages of opera houses around the world....
James Westman; Saito Kinen Orchestra, Japan; Seiji OzawaSeiji Ozawais a Japanese conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of large-scale late Romantic works. He is most known for his work as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera.-Early years:...
(conductor). Label: DeccaDecca RecordsDecca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
. - Donizetti: Imelda de' LambertazziImelda de' LambertazziImelda de' Lambertazzi is a melodramma tragico or tragic opera in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti from a libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola, based on the tragedy Imelda by Gabriele Sperduti. It received its first performance on 5 September 1830 at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples.-Performance history:The...
– Nicole CabellNicole CabellNicole Cabell , is an American opera singer. She is presently best known as the 2005 winner of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition....
, James Westman, Frank LopardoFrank LopardoFrank Lopardo is an American operatic tenor who was born and raised in Brentwood, New York. He specialized in the repertoire of Mozart and Rossini early in his career and has since transitioned to the works of Puccini, Verdi, Donizetti, and Bellini.-Early Years:Frank Lopardo began his musical...
, Massimo Giordano; Orchestra of the Age of EnlightenmentOrchestra of the Age of EnlightenmentThe Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment is a British period instrument orchestra. The OAE is a resident orchestra of the Southbank Centre, London, associate orchestra at Glyndebourne Festival Opera and has its headquarters at Kings Place...
; Mark ElderMark ElderSir Mark Philip Elder, CBE is a British conductor. He is the music director of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, England.-Biography:Elder was born in Hexham, Northumberland, England, the son of a dentist...
(conductor). Label: Opera RaraOpera RaraOpera Rara is a British record label, founded in the early 1970s by Americans Patric Schmid and Don White to promote concerts of rare and/or forgotten operas by Giacomo Meyerbeer and Donizetti and such other "bel canto" composers as Giovanni Pacini, Saverio Mercadante, and Federico Ricci.The...
. - RicciFederico RicciFederico Ricci , was an Italian composer, particularly of operas.Born in Naples, he was the younger brother of Luigi Ricci, with whom he collaborated on several works....
: Corrado d’Altamura (Highlights) – Dimitra Theodossiou, Dimitry Korchak, James Westman; Philharmonia OrchestraPhilharmonia OrchestraThe Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...
; Roland Boer (conductor). Label: Opera RaraOpera RaraOpera Rara is a British record label, founded in the early 1970s by Americans Patric Schmid and Don White to promote concerts of rare and/or forgotten operas by Giacomo Meyerbeer and Donizetti and such other "bel canto" composers as Giovanni Pacini, Saverio Mercadante, and Federico Ricci.The...
. - Harry SomersHarry SomersHarry Stewart Somers, CC was the foremost English-Canadian composer of his period.He was born in middle-class Toronto in 1925 but did not become interested in music until his early teenage years, when he met a doctor and his wife, both pianists, who introduced him to classical music...
, A Midwinter Night's Dream, - Canadian Children's Opera ChorusCanadian Children's Opera ChorusThe Canadian Children's Opera Company was founded in 1968 by Ruby Mercer and Lloyd Bradshaw. The Chorus consists of five divisions of approximately 240 boys and girls aged 6 to 19. The Principal Chorus has over 80 choristers, and they participate as the children's chorus in productions by the...
Label: CBC RecordsCBC RecordsCBC Records is a Canadian record label, owned and operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which distributes CBC programming, including live concert performances in album and digital format....
. - Margison Sings Verdi, - Richard MargisonRichard MargisonRichard Charles Margison, OC is a Canadian operatic tenor. Margison was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2001 and lives in Toronto, Canada.- External links :** at The Canadian Encyclopedia...
, James Westman Canadian Opera CompanyCanadian Opera CompanyThe Canadian Opera Company is an opera company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest opera company in Canada and the third largest producer of opera in North America. The COC performs in its own opera house, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.-History:For 40 years until...
; Richard BradshawRichard BradshawRichard James Bradshaw, O.Ont was a British opera conductor and the General Director of the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto....
(conductor). Label: CBC RecordsCBC RecordsCBC Records is a Canadian record label, owned and operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which distributes CBC programming, including live concert performances in album and digital format....
. - Millennium Opera Gala: Roy Thomson HallRoy Thomson HallRoy Thomson Hall is a concert hall located at 60 Simcoe Street in Toronto, Ontario. It is the home of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. Opened in 1982, its circular architectural design exhibits a sloping and curvilinear glass exterior. It was designed by Canadian...
, - Canadian Opera CompanyCanadian Opera CompanyThe Canadian Opera Company is an opera company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest opera company in Canada and the third largest producer of opera in North America. The COC performs in its own opera house, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.-History:For 40 years until...
; Richard BradshawRichard BradshawRichard James Bradshaw, O.Ont was a British opera conductor and the General Director of the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto....
(conductor). Label: CBC RecordsCBC RecordsCBC Records is a Canadian record label, owned and operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which distributes CBC programming, including live concert performances in album and digital format....
.
Sources
- Driscoll, F Paul "Sound Bites: James Westman", Opera NewsOpera NewsOpera News is an American classical music magazine. It has been published since 1936 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild, a non-profit organization located at Lincoln Center which was founded to support the Metropolitan Opera of New York City...
, February 2004, Vol 68, No. 8. Accessed 12 May 2009. - Gereben, Janos, "Young Canadians in SF Symphony's POPera" (review), San Francisco Classical Voice, 27 July 2004. Accessed 12 May 2009.
- Marilyn Horne Foundation, Special Projects. Accessed 12 May 2009.
- So, Joseph, "Baritone James Westman makes good on the promise of a leading boy soprano", Opera Canada, 22 March 1998. Accessed 12 May 2009.
- So, Joseph, "Baritone James Westman In Recital" (review), La Scena Musicale, 19 November 2001. Accessed 12 May 2009.
External links
- Official web site
- Artist's page at Columbia Artists ManagementColumbia Artists ManagementColumbia Artists Management is an international leader in managing the careers and touring activities of the world's most prominent performing artists and institutions.Led by Chairman and CEO Ronald A...